The more chauvinist the country, the more it protects women. And therefore the more it limits women. Italy and Spain protea women completely from military service by not permitting them to join. Denmark gives women more options (to join and to be in combat) but still protects women from the draft.35 Like the United States, it gives women options without obligations. These countries are, therefore, still male chauvinist and female chauvinist, not emancipated The degree to which a country is emancipated is the degree to which it frees men from the obligation to protea women and socializes women to equally protea men. No country is very emancipated.
Aren’t women equal to men In the Israeli and Soviet armies?
ITEM The Women’s Corps of the Israeli Defense Forces is called CHEN, Hebrew for "charm."36
We often think of the Soviet and Israeli armies as having equality of obligation between women and men. Not true. Less than 1 percent of the Soviet armed forces is female. No females are sent into combat37 In Israel, both sexes are subjea to the draft, but combat duty is required only of the men. For women, combat duty is an option that is nowadays almost never pursued.
Soviet and Israeli women, like American women, are able to choose jobs that create opportunities after military service (flight controller, cook, teacher, technician).3e Taxpayer’s money, then, trains Soviet and Israeli women in jobs that are profitable to them in civilian life while Soviet and Israeli men are trained to kill and be killed. The men who escape death return to civilian life with training to be destruaive — not construaive. (And then we blame men for being destructive.)
Aren’t Israeli men and women required, though, to serve an equal number of years? In theory, almost: Israeli men, three; Israeli women, two.39 In praaice, though, the Israeli man senes an average of thirteen years before his eligibility ends at age 54; the woman, fewer than two.40 Why? First, because only 50 percent of the women are called to serve (versus 90 percent of the men).41 Second, an Israeli mother cannot be forced to serve beyond her two years; Israeli fathers can.42 Third, even in peacetime, the
Israeli man — whether father or not — Is still required to serve two months per year (after his three-year minimum) until he is 54.4J The mother has no requirement, and women without children need only be on call.44 Fourth, in wartime, only the man serves as much as he is needed.